Re: Alfa 2300 Rio

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Responding to Damian Magista's question about the Alfa 2300 Rio, Stefano
Iachella wrote "It looks a lot like the Alfa 6. Looking at some Alfa 6
websites, I see all the body lines are the same. Some minor trim, grill, and
tail light differences, but the sheet metal appears to be the same.


"They both have a rear axle with front transmission, too. The rear disks
aren't inboard, as the 6, though. It must be the Alfa 6 with that Brazilian
iron block and maybe even Brazilian made rear axle?"


Good guess, but not quite. The body forms and details lie between the Alfa Sei
and the second-series Alfetta Berlina, but I doubt that any of the structures
or panels are shared with either car. It is a type 102, the ironblock
successor to the 1900, with the 2000 engine enlarged to 2300. The three
versions (that I have minimal factory-literature references to) were a tipo
102.15 ("Berlina 2300 Brasile"), tipo 102.13 ("Berlina 2300 Brasile Ed.
Sportiva") and tipo 102.18 ("Berlina 2300 Brasile Ed. Germania"). The last
one, an export model aimed at Germany, was reportedly something of a
pipe-dream; obsolescent, relatively expensive, and of wretched quality, I
understand that a few were shipped, fewer sold, and all eventually junked,
with perhaps one odd exception.

In 1996 Marko Larooy in the Netherlands posted a query on the digest in behalf
of a friend who was restoring one; he wrote that only eight had been sold, and
the friend was having a hard time finding a gasket set. Hans de Kok replied
"It was imported to Europe but nobody wanted it. The car was bad!  It looks
like an alfetta, but a bit bigger. It has an old fashioned 2300 engine, (no
aluminium). The were given away for very cheap prices, like 12000 guilders
when new. A comparable size, engine car those days was about 30000 guilders.
Even then nobody wanted them. I have never driven one, but they say it rusted
like an alfa, but it didnt drive like an alfa. There were no spare parts, the
car was slow. (Imagine here everything else that sounds bad)."

The ugly-stepchild status of the car can be inferred from it not being
mentioned at all in the encyclopedic d'Amico-Tabucchi "Alfa Romeo Production
Cars 1910-1996", although it had been listed as a production car in one piece
of in-house factory literature from the early eighties which I have.

Cheers

John H.
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